


Macy's at Christmas

by onlyeli



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, Be More Chill - Ned Vizinni
Genre: Christmas, I never know what to put here, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 07:44:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13072332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlyeli/pseuds/onlyeli
Summary: Jake works at Macy’s. That’s why he wants to go. His boyfriend, Jake Dillinger, works the counter at Macy’s five days a week on the holidays, and Rich hasn’t seen him for four of those five days.





	Macy's at Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> *writes this instead of literally anything else* anyway it's (again) sm a little different all feedback is appreciated thank you sm!!

Have you ever been to Macy’s around Christmas?

If you’d asked Rich this question before today, his answer would’ve been a firm ‘no’, with a little added laughter, because, uh, Macy’s is where rich people went to shop, and Rich has been wearing the same pair of jeans for three weeks now, washing them when he can, overnight, when the machine didn’t shut down halfway through the first cycle. It’s not his scene, and price tags over twenty dollars spike his temper something awful.

Recently, he’s been toying with the idea of dropping in. Nothing about his income has changed - he works most weekends now that he’s almost fully recovered from The Incident, and Steven has a steady job fixing up old cars, but that’s just enough to pay rent on their two bedroom near the mall. 

There’s only one thing that’s really warped his view on Macy’s: he got a boyfriend.

It’s taken him a while to sink comfortably into saying those words aloud: I have a boyfriend. That’s Jake, he’s my boyfriend. Yeah, I’m with my boyfriend Jake. He mutters them to himself when he can, trying to wish away how the weight on his chest gets worse with each iteration. Lately, it’s easier. He can say that he’s dating a boy without wincing first. Last week, he took hold of Jake’s hand in the street without looking over his shoulder to check for the absence of his father. Life has been good to him, and he’s been good right back. He likes the newfound peace Jake has slipped between his lips.

Jake works at Macy’s. That’s why he wants to go. His boyfriend, Jake Dillinger, works the counter at Macy’s five days a week on the holidays, and Rich hasn’t seen him for four of those five days.

Rich wouldn’t consider himself clingy. Jake needs his space and so, in all fairness, does Rich - what with The Technology being absent and his anxiety dogging him full force, it’s easier to say he feels a little off and go sit on his old couch and lose at video games to his brother. Sometimes, he aches to be surrounded as he once was by smiling faces, but they’ve been replaced by sneers, gawking mouths, malicious whispers. Rumours have ruined him, and it’s nice to be in the quiet sometimes.

Back to Jake. While Rich isn’t one to lose his mind after not seeing his boyfriend ( Jake Dillinger, who he’s dating ) for a while, he is one to miss the simpler things, like telling a joke that Jake laughs really hard at, or catching Jake looking when he thinks Rich won’t notice. Four days deprived of affection like that is enough to have him in the throes of withdrawal symptoms.

He promises himself that he won’t go, and then, before he knows it, he’s outside without a coat, trudging through ankle deep snow with a mission in mind.

\--

Macy’s around Christmas is, it has to be said, absolutely ridiculous. 

If you’ve ever been, you know this. You know how the lights span the whole store, window to window, giving the whole building a look like candlelight. The glow feels warm enough to protect from snowfall and yet cool enough to be comfortable, enticing and delecatble. You know how the Christmas trees threaten to burst through the ceiling as if they were still living, still growing, goliaths in their own right, determined to reach the stars they can’t see. You know how the people bustle and chatter as if this is something they see every day, filled to the brm with excitement for the holidays, for gifts and food and seeing loved ones. This would not be a surprise to you.

To Rich? It’s like he’s entered another dimension.

He’s seen all this stuff before, obviously: Christmas lights and trees, people shopping, but only ever in collected pockets, or in the Menlo Park mall. Nothing to this scale, all in one place. It’s enough to figuratively put him on his ass, leave him stood in the doorway with a slightly open mouth, letting all the cold air in.

Jake, fifth counter from the left, scanning a nice dress and a pre-wrapped box and chatting politely, hasn’t seen him yet.

Eventually, he regains his bearings and puts the prep back in his step, hands shoved in his pockets as he goes. He doesn’t look like he belongs here ( because, uh, he doesn’t, did you read the second paragraph? ), and people notice, but he’s got his heart set on something big, so it’s hard to really care all that much.

Rich is rambunctious and cocksure, but he’s also not an idiot. He doesn’t want to get Jake in any trouble, so he meanders casually over to the counter, careful to avoid the line, and waits until his boyfriend gets a breather. Then, in the most level voice he can manage, he speaks up, suddenly feeling a little sour ( which is his way of rationalising anxiety and fear ).

“Yo, Jakey. S’up?”

The way Jake’s face lights up makes him forget all about the amazing lights and the dumb trees and the crummy people. Who cares about all that stuff when the most gorgeous boy on the planet is grinning so wide his face might split just at the sight of you? It’s hard to think about much else when Jake leans over the counter and presses a chaste kiss to the apple of his cheek, just quick enough that it might not have happened at all.

Macy’s at Christmas is really, really pretty, and Rich can say that with confidence after seeing it firsthand. If quizzed, he’ll shrug, a little embarrassed, a little scared, and say that, yeah, he’s seen something way prettier. Jake Dillinger’s got a smile that could power small cities, sprout forests at will, silence an entire stadium full of people.

And he doesn’t have to wait until November to see that smile.

**Author's Note:**

> eli, you say. shouldn't you update the diary fic  
> yes, i reply. i'm just really gay  
> tumblr: richgoranskis pls follow me


End file.
